THE US has recorded the first cases of a new drug that eats flesh from the inside and leaves users with reptillian-like skin.

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES

The homemade drug is known as Krokodil, and it's extremely popular in Russia. It has the same mental effect as using heroin but is three-times cheaper.

Users mix codeine with hydrocarbons, like gasoline, oil or alcohol. The mixture is then filtered and boiled before being injected into the vein.

Banner's Poison Control Centre says the first two US cases have been reported in Arizona.

"As far as I know, these are the first cases in the United States that are reported. So we're extremely frightened," Dr Frank LoVecchio, the co-medical director at Banner's Poison Control Centre told KLTV. "They extract [the drug] and even though they believe that most of the oil and gasoline is gone, there is still remnants of it. You can imagine just injecting a little bit of it into your veins can cause a lot of damage."

Continual use of Krokodil causes blood vessels to burst, leaving skin green and scaly and leading to gangrene.

Russia has 2.5 million people who have registered to seek treatment as addicts and the average life span for a user is only two to three years.